Monday, 11 February 2008

the chronicles of julia

*this is going to be long. so if you're interested to read, spare some time. it is a chronicle after all

i am a princess born in the middle of bandar lampung kingdom 41 years ago. my kingdom however is not a very rich one so i decided to venture out to neverlands to seek out new opportunities with the hope of finding a (new) prince charming.

while i was made to imagine by my "consort" in my home kingdom that i was starving, desperate and was in tears begging him to send me to the neverlands for a better future, i truly believe that i was doing rather well in my florist shop and was promised, tailed and persuaded to try out for an even better future in the neverlands by the consort's slaves in my home kingdom. and i caved in.

while my consort had also insisted on saying that he had helped me a lot and treated me very well like i am a part of his family, all i could see was that he was a bad person that had only ordered us around (yes, a few other princesses were also waiting for an outbound journey in the consort's house) and fed us with remnants of food fit only for the pets in his castle while they were enjoying the best catch of the day, making us prepare it for them without even sparing some for us.

i was glad that i was finally out of the hell-hole heading towards the neverlands. my future seemed to be bright.

i was greeted by a family of five in the neverlands. to my dismay, i was informed that i was not to be remunerated for 3 months for my part of the bargain of seeking new opportunities in the neverlands with a much less monthly bounties as promised by my consort even though he insisted that i was not paying attention when explained in details to me before my departure. that was when the thought of returning home crossed my mind and i voiced it out openly to the lords of the neverlands. the lords had spared some sympathy with me and reduced the cooling period down to 2 full moons.

i had my first argument with the evil stepmother upon the third day of my arrival because i was not in favour of the way she was ordering me around. i shed tears for many days and again, i felt the urge to return to my kingdom and for the monies to be lost if i were to return home earlier than expected, the overlords of the neverlands had agreed to reduce my cooling off period for one month only rather than give up the golds to the feudal lords should i return earlier than promised.

what i had to do in the overlords castle was very simple. i had to take care of their 4 months old infants and manage the castle while they go out hunting for the whole day with their 2 preschoolers offsprings, coming home only after the sun had set down in the western horizon. while those stray felines kept getting on my nerve by pooing on the manicured lawn of the castle, i found an ingenious solution by covering up those poops and let them do their business on another part of the lawn and the cycle continued.

i am totally infatuated of the children of the overlords. they were really adorable and liked to accompany me and showed their concerns when they see me crying my eyes out for days for those pains that i had to endure beyond the reasoning of the overlords. i love them so much that i had left the baby once at home alone while she was sleeping to go to a shop that takes at least 15 minutes on foot to try out the news sending device which had lacked credits to be used, loaned to me by the overlords. i had even tried to pacify the crying baby with my own endowments when the evil stepmother was out hunting.

yes, talking about the news-sending device or mobile phone as they call it here, i had requested to get one for my first salary. however, the overlords were kind enough to furnish me with one of their old one which unfortunately, i had forgotten to even say a simple thank you. to make things worse, it became the spark that led to the biggest argument that i had with the evil stepmother in which i had definitely made my mind to return home to my kingdom within that instant. it simply started of as me insisting of buying another mobile phone because it was too complicated for me to use with my-yet-to-arrive remuneration and the evil stepmother persisted of either i use that or go back to the old ways of sending news back home with the red-and-grey pigeon. and the evil kept saying horrible things like i was not grateful to them or even to the fact that i had easy and flexible overlords to work with, not to mention an easy job of taking care of only one infant.

i almost got my wish of going home last monday fourth of february before i found out alongside the now-almost-evil stepfather that while i thought to go home to my own kingdom was as easy as taking the carriage that passes through the castle, i need to go through a lot of processes through the feudal lords in some faraway land in me1aka where the stepfather had bought and resold the ticket to my freedom. the feudal lords in the faraway lands had insisted of me going through all the processes of health checks, working visa and others in this land of opportunity before they would sign a check out memo that spelled out my freedom. with a heavy heart, i returned to the unwelcoming arms of the evil stepmother to go through the medical check-up and hibernated in my quarters all day and would only venture out when they were out hunting. i also found out that i no longer had to care for the baby because the overlords were bringing her out for hunting as well.

i have also been talking to the overlords and servants alike in the nearby castles, confiding them about me not having meals for up to a week, maybe forgetting to state the fact that i had no appetite to eat despite the wealth of raw food left uncooked inside the cold room. i even had to ask for some food from the servants of the neighbouring castle because i didn't feel like cooking.

now feeling totally underutilised and still roaring to go back to my own kingdom with no definite end to my misery in sight, i plotted for my escape. and it was a very easy escapade indeed now that i was staying alone in the castle. armed with the mobile phone, some bread and some 800 golds that i plundered from the drawers which ironically belonged to the person that i was supposed to care for, i took a red-and-white carriage with the promise of going back to my own kingdom without going through the feudal lords' authorisations.

unfortunately it was not as easy as i thought it would be. again, i was swimming in tears all night and with a heavy heart, i returned to the unwelcoming arms of the now-so-furious overlords minus some golds that i had used to pay for the red-and-white carriages charges.

angry to the fact that i was returning home much earlier than expected, my consort had also revealed to the overlords that i had sent news to my home kingdom that i have not been treated and fed well in the overlords castle, hence my premature homecoming. i am amazed myself of how the news could come about in my home kingdom whereas i have limited means of sending news back home as far as my memory could recall. and i am not sure if the overlords still believe in my stories.

fortunately for the overlords, the feudal lords in the near kingdom had insisted that i did not have to go through all the working visa processes to be sent home. now that my presence in the overlords castle was not required anymore, i am spending my time in the faraway lands in the overlords queen's house awaiting for my departure on sunday february the seventeenth while the overlords settles the required documentations with the feudal lords for me to be sent home. i sincerely wish for a prince charming to rescue me from the tallest tower in the castle now before my homecoming trip.